Predictors of forensic CBT group attendance and program completion

With the increased focus on rehabilitation, county probation agencies may contract with community-based programs to provide treatment services. Forensic Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (F-CBT) is often used in group work to address probation client risk factors and prevent recidivism. This study examined demographic and risk factors of 534 adult probation clients referred to an F-CBT program to determine predictors of program intake, participation, and completion. Results showed that probation type, higher risk neighborhood of residence, and recidivism risk score were predictors of intake completion, but only recidivism risk scores predicted program completion. Implications and methods to increase program engagement are discussed.     

Resistance and Work in Adolescent Groups

This paper examines the nature and function of resistance in adolescent groups and suggests that resistance can be better understood in the context of (a) stages of group development, and (b) work/resistance cycles which are the central mechanism of tension regulation in the group.     

论竞优及其管理

在阐述竞优行为及竞优思想的基础上,提出了竞优内核的概念,并分析了竞优内核的特性,指出了竞优活动的6个特点,对竞优管理的主要内容和流程进行了分析和阐述。研究表明,竞优是以认识和利用事物规律为前提,以知识为驱动,以展示行为主体优良为目的的一种主流行为;竞优观念可以改善人们认识事物的角度;差异性是竞优的必然现象,而多元化则是竞优群体的某种类型选择结果;竞优能够有效提升行为主体的社会价值,并促进社会组织的发展;建立健全民主集中制是竞优管理的基本要求。     

Sequencing and Scheduling Appointments with Potential Call‐In Patients

This paper studies appointment scheduling for a combination of routine patients who book well in advance and last‐minute patients who call for an appointment later that same day. We determine when these same‐day patients should be scheduled throughout the day, and how the prospect of their arrivals affects the appointment times of the routine patients. By formulating the problem as a stochastic linear program, we are able to incorporate random and heterogeneous service times and no‐show rates, ancillary physician tasks, and appointment delay costs for same‐day patients who prefer to see the doctor as early as possible. We find that the optimal patient sequence is quite sensitive to the no‐show probabilities and the expected number of same‐day patients. We also develop two simple heuristic solutions to this combinatorial sequencing problem.     

Linking Process Quality and Resource Usage: An Empirical Analysis

Motivated by an increasing adoption of evidence‐based medical guidelines in the delivery of medical care, we examine whether increased adherence to such guidelines (typically referred to as higher process quality) is associated with reduced resource usage in the course of patient treatment. In this study, we develop a sample of US hospitals and use cardiac care as our context to empirically examine our questions. To measure a patient's resource usage, we use the total length of stay, which includes any additional inpatient stay necessitated by unplanned readmissions within thirty days after initial hospitalization. We find evidence that higher process quality, and more specifically its clinical (as opposed to its administrative) dimensions, are associated with a reduction in resource usage. Moreover, the standardization of care that is achieved via the implementation of medical guidelines, makes this effect more pronounced in less focused environments: higher process quality is more beneficial when the cardiac department's patient population is distributed across a wider range of medical conditions. We explore the implications of these findings for process‐oriented pay‐for‐performance programs, which tie the reimbursement of hospitals to their adherence to evidence‐based medical guidelines.     

Preliminary Evaluation of the Validity and Reliability of the Spanish Version of the Therapeutic Alliance with Clinician (TAC) Questionnaire

As part of a broader study aimed at evaluating perceived alliance with service providers and level of satisfaction with services received, 103 monolingual Spanish speaking Hispanic women were interviewed. Participants were receiving ongoing behavioral health treatment at three different community service provider sites located in the greater New Haven area in Connecticut. These sites included a community health center (n = 40), a community behavioral health center (n = 40), and a faith-based agency (n = 23). As part of this study, the English version of the Therapeutic Alliance with Clinician (TAC) questionnaire was translated into Spanish and administered to our sample of Hispanic women. Results on the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the TAC are presented in this article.     

试论德国的医疗保险体制改革

德国是世界上最早实施社会医疗保障的国家。德国的医疗保险体系以社会医疗保险为主,商业医疗保险为辅。德国的医疗保险体系具有优质、高效、公平、覆盖面广等优点,但近年来也难以摆脱资源浪费,经费入不敷出等问题的困扰。德国于20世纪90年代和21世纪初持续进行医疗保险体制改革,采取了取消部分医疗补贴,提高某些医疗服务的自费比例,扩大有偿医疗服务范围,并组建了由政府机构,保险公司和医保医院共同构成的独立机构,对疾病认证,治疗程序和医疗服务质量进行统一规定和管理。本文对德国医疗保险体制改革进行了系统介绍和评估,对构建和完善具有中国特色的医疗保险体制具有参考借鉴价值。     

Understanding Mechanisms Underlying Peer Effects: Evidence From a Field Experiment on Financial Decisions

Using a high‐stakes field experiment conducted with a financial brokerage, we implement a novel design to separately identify two channels of social influence in financial decisions, both widely studied theoretically. When someone purchases an asset, his peers may also want to purchase it, both because they learn from his choice (“social learning”) and because his possession of the asset directly affects others' utility of owning the same asset (“social utility”). We randomize whether one member of a peer pair who chose to purchase an asset has that choice implemented, thus randomizing his ability to possess the asset. Then, we randomize whether the second member of the pair: (i) receives no information about the first member, or (ii) is informed of the first member's desire to purchase the asset and the result of the randomization that determined possession. This allows us to estimate the effects of learning plus possession, and learning alone, relative to a (no information) control group. We find that both social learning and social utility channels have statistically and economically significant effects on investment decisions. Evidence from a follow‐up survey reveals that social learning effects are greatest when the first (second) investor is financially sophisticated (financially unsophisticated); investors report updating their beliefs about asset quality after learning about their peer's revealed preference; and, they report motivations consistent with “keeping up with the Joneses” when learning about their peer's possession of the asset. These results can help shed light on the mechanisms underlying herding behavior in financial markets and peer effects in consumption and investment decisions.     

略论行政合理原则

合理原则相对于合法原则要求更高,即行政机关作出的行政行为不仅要合法而且要合理,其产生的社会效果优于一般意义上的合法行政,它是政府行政活动的精细化模式。合理行政在适用过程中应注意3个问题：一是树立现代法治理念,注重对法治精神文化基因的培育;二是善于运用相关法律规则,消除行政行为中的＂机械化＂倾向;三是正确适用行为选择规则,＂柔性＂执法,权利优先,在法律没有明文规定的情况下,让合理原则在被法律疏漏的空隙间闪烁出尊重人权、公平正义的和谐之光。